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12th Paralympic Games - JO

Athens, September 18-27, 2004

Track Day 4 Round Up - September 21, 2004

Heroic comeback by Modra

Five WRs broken in Women's Kilo

Kieran Modra, the man who wasn't going to participate in these Paralympic Games
until the day before the Opening Ceremony, is currently Australia's best medal
performer after taking his second gold medal with a courageous ride in the Men's
B1-3 Sprint Final. Modra's performance lifts Australia's unequalled tally of
medals from the Athens track to nine, with six gold, two silver and one bronze.

In the other final event contested on Day 4 at the Olympic Velodrome, an astounding
five world records were broken in the Women's LC1-4 & CP3/4 Kilometre TT, with
China taking a clean sweep of the podium, Ju Fang Zhou, Feng Zhen An and Qi
Tang taking gold, silver and bronze respectively.

Modra, from South Australia, could easily have forfeited the semi-final to
Japan after he and pilot David Short were sent crashing to the velodrome floor
when the front tyre of their bike rolled off the wheel in the second of a best-of-three
race tilt. The Aussie pair had skin torn off their legs, arms and shoulders,
but after applying ice to their wounds and welts, returned to win the third
semi-final race to set-up a finals tussle for the gold gong, once again against
Slovakian Vladislav Janovjak and his pilot Juraj Petrovic.

"I have to say I could hardly walk after that crash... both of us were hurting
all over," said Modra, 32. "We were a mess physically and mentally for a while
there. I've always wondered about what the pain would be like after a fall like
that - now I know.

"The crash happened so quickly, I didn't know what was happening for a few
seconds. But it was a case of picking ourselves up off the ground and focusing
on what was needed," he added.

Forty five minutes later, as both limped to their bikes and by their own admission
"feeling very sorry and sore", proceeded to overhaul the Slovakian pair, coming
back from 1-0 down to take a a gutsy 2-1 win to snare the gold. However, it
didn't all go Australia's way - bronze went to Japan's Shigeo Yoshihara and
Takuya Oki, who narrowly beat Aussies Anthony Biddle and Kial Stewart with another
2-1 win.

Modra will see how stiff and sore he feels overnight before deciding whether
to 1km Time Trial.

In the qualifying round of the Women's B1-3 Tandem 3km Individual Pursuit,
America's Karissa Whitsell and Katie Compton set a new Paralympic record with
a time of 3 minutes 38.795 seconds (49.361 km/h), less than a second clear of
Australia's Lindy Hou and Toireasa Ryan, but almost four seconds ahead of another
Aussie duo, Janet Shaw and Kelly Mccombie.

More clear cut was the Men's LC1-4 & CP3/4 Team Sprint qualification, which
saw the Australian trio of Peter Brooks, Greg Ball and Christopher Scott clear
winners over teams from USA and France.

Racing at the Athens Velodrome concludes tomorrow, with medals from the Women's
B1-3 Individual Pursuit, Men's LC1-4 & CP3/4 Team Sprint and Men's B1-3 Kilometre
Time Trial all up for grabs.